The William Morris Project: 2014 | Redefining Productive

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Thanks for the wonderful advice on getting and staying organized last Thursday. I’ve been researching all the suggestions given while being honest about what will work for us. I like the idea of all of the app organizers recommended, but my main problem is seeing the big picture. I’m notorious for saying yes to everything, and if I can’t see easily my month at a glance, I know I will over commit myself. I know I can technically see my month at a glance on an app, but that doesn’t seem to be enough for me. It’s like my brain can’t function unless something is sized at a minimum of 5×7.

Today, at this moment, unless I change my mind/come up with something better/discover something new, I’m going with a large wall calendar attached to a humongous cork board in the dining room. The Mister was dubious when he first heard the idea. I think he’s afraid it will look janky, but I have (more!) ideas to make it look less like the lunchroom in a motor-home factory.

That’s my plan for creating an effective system, but another great piece of advice I received Thursday focused more on the individual. I’m trying, really trying, to focus on what I have achieved versus what I have still left to do. I’m redefining productive. With that in mind, here is what I was able to achieve over the long weekend. They are moments of productivity I would otherwise ignore because there are only a couple completed tasks in the bunch.

I had some leeks that were wilting, celery and carrots waiting for chicken stock, and a bowl full of lemons. I boiled the leeks and am putting them in salads/eating them as a light side. I saved the cooking water to add to a veggie stock I plan on making with all the odds and ends vegetables I’ve been collecting. I’m finally putting An Everlasting Meal to use! I also made that chicken stock that has been hanging over my head for a couple of weeks. Helping motivate me was Mikey, who on Friday had an asthma attack and now has bronchitis. Mikey’s asthma attacks always precede bad respiratory infections. Making soup seemed like the appropriate helpless mom thing to do when your child can no longer take one more “How’s your breathing?” “Do you feel okay?” “On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being when we were in the Urgent Care…”

My friend Ange started a food blog at long last called When in Doubt, Add Butter. It’s so good, please check it out! I took advantage of her simple, honest, no-nonsense style of cooking/blogging/living to make her recipe for seriously addictive lemon bars. They are insane. They lasted less than 24 hours, but they were so good while they lasted. I’m making more.

I worked with Mikey on his Mission report while everything was on the stove or in the oven. Multitasking! I lost the instruction sheet for his Mission project so we floundered a bit trying to figure out what he needed to put in the written report. His teacher has a website so I was able to download another copy of the instructions. I was disappointed I had to do that, but instead of focusing on my inability to hold onto three pieces of paper without them disappearing into the ether, I cleaned out my files and did some brief desk organizing. The area still needs work to maintain productivity, but I’m getting there.

I also organized another bag of books, supplies, and more decorations [shut up. not a word.] for the library. Some of those decorations are for Easter, and I don’t think I need to mention how proud I am that I have them ready for the library before Good Friday.

Nico got this Uncle Milton’s glowing earth for Christmas from one of his grandmas, and I finally hung it up for him after making a run for batteries. He was so excited.

Through it all, I managed to find time to watch Minecraft Youtube videos with the boys [zzzzzz] and terrorize them with surprise tickle attacks. Mikey caught me in the act yesterday and instead of deleting it (no makeup! hair and bangs pulled back in bun! clean the house clothes and Jabba chins!), I congratulated him on such a great picture (oof) and posted it on Instagram.

Last week I tried to take some pictures of the kids in the library, and the junior high boys were so, so self conscious and picky about each and every image. I recognized their complaints (teeth, hair, face, etc.) as ones I’ve made in the past, so I told myself I would be better about taking pictures–and being less self critical–in front of the boys.

Part of the problem with the picture can’t be fixed with 3,000 retakes. I smile and laugh as if I’m trying to swallow the earth whole. As far as bad habits go, that’s one I don’t mind at least one son adopting.

Okay, so the video below is not uploading…ugh!!…but here is a link to Nico laughing/smiling exactly like his mother. :)

Great post! You accomplished a lot! Cooking is soooo time consuming that that in itself is a victory over possible spoiled veggies and fruit. Your comment about the school papers missing prompts my one tip on that challenge. During grade school, I always put important school stuff in a plastic protector. The kind with binder holes. It seemed to elevate it to important “do not lose” status. Then I would put it in the legal jacket on the bookcase that holds the school stuff. Of course the bookcase is a total catch all “organized” clutter spot. But this system kept me on top of stuff….for the most part.

Your chicken stock story made me so happy, if only because it proves I’m not the only person in the world with something like making chicken stock “hanging over my head”! That was me a couple of weeks ago, and I mean to tell you that I felt I’d earned a HUGE gold star with just simmering it up already instead of pitching the chicken bones (which had been my original plan that morning.) And thank you for the link to the lemon bars, which I will now add to the cloud forming over my head for things to do in the coming week; fairly certain this one will make the cut.

You’re welcome! It sounds productive, and maybe it was–but it didn’t feel that way at the time. I guess because I was thinking about everything I wasn’t doing. This post helped me as much as it did you!

A very productive few days indeed! I made chicken soup last week, using vegetable “leftovers” from the freezer thanks to The Everlasting Meal. It’s pretty much the only thing I regularly do from that book but it makes me happy every time I do it. (The fact that I was the one who was sick and needed soup, and the one making it, did not escape me as that Being the Mom is all about.) Hope Mikey is better and thanks for the link to your friend’s blog!

I love the organizing and productivity, of course. But when your boys are grown, you are going to treasure pictures like that. We have a service (picturelife) that emails us daily pictures/videos from 10,9,8,7 years ago, and so forth. They are mostly of the kids and we all enjoy looking at them often.

Two comments:
” It’s like my brain can’t function unless something is sized at a minimum of 5×7.” TOTALLY with you sister! Which is why for Christmas I asked for a 8×5 spiral day planner that I can take with me when we travel to our cottage. I get hives not having a paper calendar in front of me. :-)
Next … that picture of you is awesome. That’s exactly how you want your kids & family to remember you when you’re gone (sorry, not to be morbid, but we take photos to leave a memory, right?) It’s perfect!
Julie

Love it! I also spent the weekend making cheese, apple cider caramels and soup… Since they were all on my things to do to clear out the fridge. Am loving to and loving not having to buy lunch from the deli everyday!

I sympathize with the calendar and organization challenges. I use Google calendar but have been pining for paper again. Page 2 of this article http://www.thegrindstone.com/2012/06/15/career-management/bullish-my-to-do-list-revolution-936/ talks about the exact thing you’re facing—wanting to see everything at once. Turns out our brains are actually designed to do that, not look at little screens. Also, I love the redefinition of productive and the photo of produce in your cool kitchen, and that glowing Earth is rad.

Really cute, happy picture! We keep our cork board on the inside of our pantry door. It’s easy to check, but it doesn’t dominate the kitchen all the time. It’s also near the big calendar. If you or the Mister are uncertain about having it in the dining room, maybe in your laundry room?

I agree that it can be hard to keep track of all the school (+ sports) paperwork. For school assignments, it might be worth working with Mikey to help him have a consistent place to keep them (binder, special magazine holder, etc.). It will definitely help to have a system as he gets older and has more long-term assignments (speaking as the mother of 7th and 10th graders).

My children are infatuated with Stampy Cat & iBallisticSquid videos about Minecraft on youtube. I try to sleep through them but they’re actually pretty cute and clever.

Chicken soup is totally the way to go but don’t skim all the fat off. That’s actually the good stuff, Jewish Penicillin, that keeps the colds and coughs away. Also try some Eucalyptus oil on the feet as they sleep. I don’t go in for many home remedies but these two are definitely favorites here.